Morgan Stanley’s 2nd Multicultural Innovation Lab Demo Day

The Morgan StanleyMulticultural Innovation Lab, Morgan Stanley’s in-house accelerator is an intensive 6 months accelerator designed to help build and scale startups, culminating in a showcase presenting each company to the investor community.

The program, now in its second year, targets companies with a multicultural or woman founder, co-founder, CTO or other member of C Suite that is developing innovative solutions across sectors.

The 16 presenting startups, all led by a female or multicultural founder, offered solutions to structural inefficiencies across a wide array of categories, including fintech, developer tools and health. Though all of the companies offered impressive presentations and strong value propositions, here are three of the companies that stood out to us.

The startups are:

Morgan Stanley Multicultural Innovation Lab

BeautyLynk “is an on-demand hair and makeup service provider, specializing in customizable services for women.”

Shoobs is looking to be the go-to platform for local “urban” events, which the company defined as events centered on local nightlife, comedy and concerts in the hip-hop, R&B and reggae genres to name a few.

TRENCH “is an online fashion marketplace that makes use of the unworn items in every woman’s closet.”

Newark Venture Partners Labs

Floss Bar “is a new type of preventive brand for oral health care. The company offers high-quality, routine dental care across flexible locations at thoughtful prices.”

Upsider “is a software solution allowing recruiters to leverage AI technology to identify a comprehensive set of candidates who align with their business and role requirements, resulting in a more strategic understanding of the best possible talent for the job.”

PS27 Ventures

BlueWave Technologies “is a cleantech company and the creators of the BlueWave™ Cleaning System — a water-free, detergent-free and chemical-free plasma device that cleans items that are extremely hard or impossible to clean with a washer and dryer.”